Economy - overview:
Having discarded past socialist economic policies, Madagascar has
since the mid 1990s followed a World Bank and IMF led policy of
privatization and liberalization, which has placed the country on a
slow and steady growth path. Agriculture, including fishing and
forestry, is a mainstay of the economy, accounting for one-fourth of
GDP and employing four-fifths of the population. Export earnings
primarily are earned in the small industrial sector, which features
textile manufacturing and agriculture processing. Deforestation and
erosion, aggravated by the use of firewood as the primary source of
fuel are serious concerns. The separatist political crisis of 2002
undermined macroeconomic stability, with the estimated drop in
output being subject to a wide margin of error. Poverty reduction
will be the centerpiece of economic policy for the next few years.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $12.59 billion (2002)
GDP - real growth rate:
-11.9% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $800 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 25%
industry: 12%
services: 63% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
71% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 29% (1999)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
38.1 (1999)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
7.4% (2001 est.)
Labor force:
7.3 million (2000)
Unemployment rate:
5.9% (1998)
Budget:
revenues: $553 million
expenditures: $735 million, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1998 est.)
Industries:
meat processing, soap, breweries, tanneries, sugar, textiles,
glassware, cement, automobile assembly plant, paper, petroleum,
tourism
Industrial production growth rate:
3% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production:
830.2 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 36.1%
hydro: 63.9%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
772.1 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
13,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves:
0 bbl (37257)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (37257)
Agriculture - products:
coffee, vanilla, sugarcane, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava (tapioca),
beans, bananas, peanuts; livestock products
Exports:
$700 million f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities:
coffee, vanilla, shellfish, sugar; cotton cloth, chromite,
petroleum products
Exports - partners:
France 34%, US 24.6%, Netherlands 6%, Germany 5.9%, Mauritius 4%
(2002)
Imports:
$985 million f.o.b. (2002)
Imports - commodities:
capital goods, petroleum, consumer goods, food
Imports - partners:
France 17.2%, Iran 11%, Mauritius 10.6%, Bahrain 9.4%, Hong Kong
6.9%, South Africa 5.9%, China 4.1% (2002)
Debt - external:
$4.6 billion (2002)
Economic aid - recipient:
$838 million (1997)
Currency:
Malagasy franc (MGF)
Currency code:
MGF
Exchange rates:
Malagasy francs per US dollar - 6,831.96 (2002), 6,588.49 (2001),
6,767.48 (2000), 6,283.77 (1999), 5,441.4 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year